What and when is Mischief Night?

Expect your mates to chuck loo roll over your car or maybe cling filming the toilet seat, because it is nearly Mischief Day 2016.

Mischief Day dates back centuries to when children in the 1700s would play pranks on one another.

These days the tradition of causing mischief has all but died out across Britain – except in the North.

Here is everything you need to know.

When is Mischief Night?

(Picture: SWNS)

Most consider Mischief Night to be the night before Bonfire Night – on November 4.

However, there are many who believe that Mischief Night is actually the night before Halloween – on October 30.

The confusion seems to have arisen because the original date of Mischief Night was around April time around the end of the 19th century.

This was later changed because ‘May Day and the Green man had little resonance for children in grimy cities’ according to historian Karen Allen. instead the children looked towards the end of the year and the night before the gunpowder plot seemed appropriate.

The debate continues (it kind of differs depending on where you live) but generally most consider November 4 as Mischief Night these days.

What is Mischief Night?

This is an age-old tradition that dates back to the 1700s. However it wasn’t until the 1830s when Mischief Night first appeared in the record book.

It essentially involved children and teenagers pranking one another although it has spread to minor acts of vandalism in recent times.

This included kids lobbing flour and eggs at one another, gate stealing and treacle smearing. not to mention chucking toilet rolls over trees and gardens.

In the past police have typically looked the other way on Mischief Night as most of the pranks are harmless but some areas are now cracking down.

Humberside Police for example have warned youngsters not to use the evening as an excuse to commit criminality.

But the tradition is dying out

(picture: Getty)

Ever since the 1950s the tradition of causing mischief on Mischief Night seems to have slowed.

While it used to happen all over Britain, nowadays mischief is really only seen in northern England.